In 1862 Lucie Duff Gordon, cousin of Harriet Martineau and friend of Caroline Norton, Meredith and Thackeray, embarked on a solo trip to Egypt in an effort to rid herself of consumption. The next seven years were spent in a ruined house above a temple in Luxor on the Nile. Feeling at home in this most foreign of lands, Lucie Duff Gordon integrated herself quickly in the locale, setting up a hospital from her home and welcoming the people of Luxor, be they officials or slaves, into her house. The absorbing story told through her letters offers a wonderfully penetrating and sympathetic view of mid-nineteenth century Egypt as well as the personal story of this brave and generous woman.